As part of the AS Media course we were required to produce a preliminary magazine in preparation for our final piece of coursework. The preliminary magazine was to create the cover page and contents page of a school magazine - completing the preliminary task is vital as it offers an opportunity to practice the techniques needed to create a magazine.
Here is the design for my front cover and contents page:
I adopted the usual codes and conventions of magazines. On the cover the mast head and logo was featured mainly in the left third – following the rule of thirds – I used flashes, headlines, and a lower banner. The logo I used was my schools Sixth Form Logo, and I used the colours from the logo as my colour scheme.
Here are the finished cover and contents page:
What did you find difficult about producing your school magazine? What did you find easy?
I found it difficult to find a font that suited the image of the magazine – I tried various different types and finally made a decision. I found it fairly hard to think of a name that would also suit my magazine, I decided on ‘Hex’ which represented a hexagon, which has six sides and the magazine was for my schools Sixth Form. I also found it hard to take a photo that I put on the cover and still have space to write around it – I will try to solve this problem when I take photos for my final music magazine. However, I found the layout of the contents page easy to organise as I felt I had researched enough magazines to get to grips with the usual layout of contents pages.
Did you research any other magazines to help you?
The first thing I did when faced with this task was research various school magazines, including my own schools and the ones other students had created in previous years. I did this to help me understand how to set things out and what to include. In my opinion, this research helped me greatly in producing this magazine.
What tactics did you use to attract your audience?
I used various codes and conventions of magazines to attract the reader. I used a flash to advertise free merchandise, which will attract the reader to get the magazine in order to receive the merchandise. I also made the models look into the camera in order to create eye contact with the reader so that they engage with the audience and entice them to read the magazine.
What have you learnt about Photoshop/other softwares used in the production of your preliminary task?
I used Microsoft Publisher to design my front cover and contents page as I thought it would be easy for me to rearrange the layout of my design, I learnt that I will use it again for my design but definitely not for my final production of my music magazine. I used Photoshop to edit my photos, I had used this software before so I had a loose idea of how to do things but I learnt much more. This will help me in the future when I edit my photos. I also used Photoshop to create my cover page and contents, as I wanted to use a better software than Microsoft Publisher, but I didn't have any other software.
I used Microsoft Publisher to design my front cover and contents page as I thought it would be easy for me to rearrange the layout of my design, I learnt that I will use it again for my design but definitely not for my final production of my music magazine. I used Photoshop to edit my photos, I had used this software before so I had a loose idea of how to do things but I learnt much more. This will help me in the future when I edit my photos. I also used Photoshop to create my cover page and contents, as I wanted to use a better software than Microsoft Publisher, but I didn't have any other software.
What lessons have you learned here that will enable you to excel in the production of your main task?
I have learnt that planning is vital – it is important to have a plan to follow, as my plan made it easier for me to create the final piece. I also learnt that it is important to think of exactly how I want the photos to look and direct the models to exactly what I want/need from them.
